Insurer RSA Q1 premiums up 14 pct, operating profit strong

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - London-listed insurer RSA posted a 14 percent rise in first-quarter net written premiums on Thursday and said operating profits were ahead of plan, helped by below-average weather-related losses.

RSA, best known in Britain for its More Than brand, said group net written premiums rose to 1.71 billion pounds ($2.20 billion), with the firm’s Canadian business seeing the biggest rise in premiums, a 28 percent gain.

“Weather experience was relatively benign across the group, with the exception of Canada which saw the impact of windstorms across Newfoundland and Ontario in March,” RSA said in a trading statement.

Chief Executive Stephen Hester, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) who came in to overhaul the insurer in 2014, said the year had begun well and that results so far indicated “further progress”. ($1 = 0.7765 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Greg Mahlich)